The Organization of Global Negotiations

14

Participation by Non-GovernmentalOrganizations

The world is watching (the Climate Action Network, 1997).

Introduction

We now turn to examine channels in place for the participation in the climate change negotiations of non-governmental organizations (NGOs).¹ A huge variety of NGOs are active in the climate change regime. These encompass a very wide spectrum of differing objectives and shades of opinion, from environmental leaders to laggards, mirroring the spectrum of parties and indeed having greater extremes. NGOs carry out a variety of self-appointed roles in the negotiations. Some focus on raising awareness of climate change, others lobby for the interests of their own constituencies or the environment, an increasing number provide data, ...